University students of Asian, Chinese, African and African-Caribbean ethnicities were the least satisfied with their academic experience, the survey showed.
Photograph: Alamy

Two-thirds of students in England do not feel their degree represents good value for money, with overall satisfaction levels particularly low among students from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds, a survey has found.

The 2016 student academic experience survey, published on Thursday, shows satisfaction levels among undergraduates in terms of value for money have fallen sharply in the past four years since the introduction of £9,000 tuition fees.

Just 33% of students in England who took part in this year’s survey felt they were getting “good” or “very good” value for money, compared with more than half of students (52%) surveyed in 2012.

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Of the rest, 35% believed they were getting “poor” or “very poor” value for money, while 32% thought it was neither good nor poor. Students of Asian, Chinese, African and African-Caribbean ethnicities were the least satisfied with their academic experience.

Three-quarters of the students polled felt they were not being given enough information about how their fees were being spent.

The survey also revealed students were overwhelmingly opposed to government plans, outlined in its recent higher education bill, to allow universities to raise their fees further, with 86% of the 15,000 students who took part in the survey against any further hike and just 8% in favour.

At the same time a petition started by Durham engineering student Alex True, against the government’s controversial retrospective change in the cost of loans, has surpassed the 100,000 signatures required to trigger a parliamentary debate.

“Universities and the government both want to see tuition fees increase, but students are strongly opposed to this,” said Nick Hillman, the director of the HEPI, adding that it was up to universities to “show how any extra fee income will directly benefit their students”.

Durham student Alex True, whose petition against the government’s retrospective change in the cost of loans has been signed by more than 100,000 people. Photograph: None

The survey also addressed mental health among students, a key concern among those working and studying in higher education. It revealed high anxiety levels among students – just 21% of those surveyed reported the lowest anxiety levels, compared with 41% of the general population. They also scored significantly lower on wellbeing measures compared with the national population.

“The high levels of anxiety among students show that having to stand on your own two feet as an independent learner – combined with financial, workload and future career worries – is a combustible mix,” said Hillman.

Ali Milani, the president of the students’ union at Brunel University, which has one of the highest proportions of BME students, said he was not surprised that student wellbeing was suffering.

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“The tripling of tuition fees did not just have an economic impact, it had a psychological and cultural impact on students. We should take very seriously how the marketisation of higher education and the hike in fees has had an impact on wellbeing.”

Milani agreed with the report’s authors that one of the reasons BME students may report lower satisfaction levels is because many live at home due to financial constraints and caring responsibilities.

In addition, he said a lot of BME arts and humanities students felt the curriculum was unrepresentative of the students on the course. “Often it’s very difficult for BME students to engage with a course academically that’s very Eurocentric. A lot of students would like there to be greater diversity in their curriculum.”

Prof Les Ebdon, the director of watchdog Fair Access to Higher Education, expressed concern about lower satisfaction levels among BME students. He pointed to research by the Higher Education Funding Council for England that showed students from some ethnic minority groups were also significantly less likely to gain a good degree or find graduate-level employment.

The LSE’s Saw Swee Hock student centre, which opened in 2014. Of the students surveyed, 49% said universities could save money by spending less on new buildings. Photograph: Jeffrey Blackler/Alamy

“An unexplained gap in attainment is unacceptable,” said Ebdon, “and this survey on student experience shows why it is vital that universities and colleges consider how best to support their BME students to achieve their full potential.

“Universities should also consider how best to work with BME students to make sure courses are engaging and accessible, so that everyone with the talent to benefit from higher education has the opportunity to excel.”

Sir Peter Lampl, the chairman of the Sutton Trust education charity that promotes social mobility, said: “It’s no surprise that students’ perceptions of their degree being ‘good value for money’ are falling.

“Our research has shown that English university graduates face extremely high debts on graduation, more than double their American counterparts. Increasing fees even more will only leave students in more debt and feeling even more short-changed.”

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Value for money apart, the HEPI-HEA survey showed 85% of full-time undergraduates were satisfied with their course. It also revealed that students value quality of teaching over smart new facilities. Asked about their preferences as to how universities could save money, 49% suggested spending less on buildings, while only 9% were in favour of reducing support to improve academics’ teaching.

Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), which represents university workers, said: “Despite limited knowledge about where their fee money goes, it is interesting that students have little time for building projects at the expense of teaching.

“It is encouraging they value substance over style and have so overwhelmingly rejected fee increases linked to controversial plans to measure teaching quality.”

A separate report by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for higher education – the students’ ombudsman – showed the number of complaints it received fell to the lowest level since 2011, with 1,850 new complaints in 2015, compared with 2,040 in 2014.

The majority of complaints (64%) were issues affecting a student’s academic status, such as assessment marks or final degree results, while 15% concerned complaints relating to facilities, course content, processing of visa applications, teaching hours or research supervision.